Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Vicar
1.
One deputed or authorized to perform the functions of another; a substitute in office; a deputy.
[R.]
2.
(Eng. Eccl. Law)
The incumbent of an appropriated benefice.
☞ The distinction between a parson [or rector] and vicar is this: The parson has, for the most part, the whole right to the ecclesiastical dues in his parish; but a vicar has generally an appropriator over him, entitled to the best part of the profits, to whom he is in fact perpetual curate with a standing salary.
Burrill.
Apostolic vicar
, or Vicar apostolic
(R. C. Ch.)
(a)
A bishop to whom the Roman pontiff delegates a portion of his jurisdiction.
(b)
Any ecclesiastic acting under a papal brief, commissioned to exercise episcopal authority.
(c)
A titular bishop in a country where there is no episcopal see, or where the succession has been interrupted.
– Vicar forane
.
(R. C. Ch.)
A dignitary or parish priest appointed by a bishop to exercise a limited jurisdiction in a particular town or district of a diocese.
Addis & Arnold.
– Vicar-general
. (a)
(Ch. of Eng.)
The deputy of the
Archbishop of Canterbury
or York, in whose court the bishops of the province are confirmed. Encyc. Brit.
(b)
(R. C. Ch.)
An assistant to a bishop in the discharge of his official functions.
– Vicar of Jesus Christ
(R. C. Ch.)
, the pope as representing Christ on earth.
Webster 1828 Edition
Vicar
VIC'AR
,Noun.
1.
In a general sense, a person deputed or authorized to perform the functions of another; a substitute in office. The pope pretends to be vicar of Jesus Christ on earth. He has under him a grand vicar, who is a cardinal, and whose jurisdiction extends over all priests, regular and secular.2.
In the canon law, the priest of a parish, the predial tithes of which are impropriated or appropriated, that is, belong to a chapter or religious house, or to a layman, who receives them, and only allows the vicar the smaller tithes or a salary.Apostolical vicars, are those who perform the functions of the pope in churches or provinces committed to their direction.